In offices, you learn about people accidentally. The family photo on the desk. The overheard phone call. The conversation in the elevator about the weekend.
Remote has no accidents. You have to be deliberate.
Why this matters:
People work better with people they know. Not just their job function. Know them as humans. What motivates them. What stresses them. What their life outside work looks like.
This isn’t soft. It’s practical. The engineer you know is struggling with a sick parent is someone you check on. The designer who just ran a marathon is someone you congratulate. These moments build the fabric of a team.
Without them, you’re just coworkers. Interchangeable. Transactional.
How to create space for this:
Start meetings with a minute of human catch-up. Not forced, not formal. Just “how’s everyone doing?” Sometimes the answer is “fine, let’s get to it.” Sometimes someone shares something real.
Share your own stuff. Model the behavior. If the leader is all business all the time, everyone else will be too.
Create prompts. “What’s one thing you did this weekend?” in a Friday thread. “What are you reading?” in a random channel. Low stakes, easy to participate or ignore.
Don’t mandate oversharing. Some people are private. That’s fine.
But create the openings. Make it safe to be human.
The work will be better for it.